Q&A with Jorge

Slap Plants Around

Your great book says that slapping my plants around will make them more resinous. Does this mean the better the fight, the higher the buds get you?Ralph Via Internet

Dear Ralph,
Slapping plants around may make a demented grower feel superior, smart and dominant, but it’s detrimental to plant development and overall resin production. The book says: “Stress can cause plants to produce more resin, but it simultaneously causes odd and/or reduced growth.”

For many years, growers claimed that mutilating plants, withholding water, erratic photoperiod regimens, etc., made them produce more and more potent resin. They also claimed that exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light increases resin production. My favorite myth is that driving a spike through the base of the main stem makes plants produce more resin. All of these claims are untrue! The secret to making plants produce the most resin is to grow strong, healthy plants, not to mutilate them.